Supplementary Aids and Services

"Supplementary aids and services" is a very broad category of aids, services, and other supports that are provided in regular education classes, other education-related settings, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings, to enable children with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled children to the maximum extent appropriate.

Subcategories of aid or services that may be included in the broad "supplementary aids and services" category include:

Accommodations and modifications to the curriculum

Accommodations and modifications to how curricular information is provided

Direct services and supports to the student

Direct services and supports to people who work with the student

Each student is different, and supplementary aids must be considered carefully for individual students. Examples of some supplementary aids and services that may help some deaf and hard of hearing students include:

Preferential seating in the classroom, lunchroom, during gym class, and at schoolwide events.

Interpreting support during after-school events so the student has greater access to extracurricular activities with peers.

Consultative support provided by a deaf education professional to the child's classroom teachers.

Social interaction support, such as direct instruction in social skills.

Study skills support.

Assignment modifications such as homework assignments broken down into steps or shorter assignments.

Planning time for staff and teachers working with the student to collaborate.

Test instructions given in sign language.

As you can see from the examples given above, not all supplementary services may be specific to students with hearing loss. Deaf and hard of hearing students may need additional support that is more general than specific to their hearing loss in order to make progress in the curriculum and reach their IEP goals. IEP team members have a valuable role in identifying the needed supports and ensuring they are included in the IEP.